Free hand for Siddaramaiah in candidate pick?

Bengaluru: Given the current political situation in the state and the recent victory in the two Assembly bypolls, the Congress High Command is likely to give a free hand to CM Siddaramaiah in the selection of candidates for the 2018 general elections.

The experiment of giving freedom to a local strong leader proved successful in the Punjab Assembly polls where Captain Amarinder Singh ensured a landslide victory for his party and a drubbing for the BJP-Akali Dal coalition government.

Souces close to the CM told DC  that Siddaramaiah promised AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during his previous meeting in Delhi that he would bring the Congress back to power provided he was allowed to have a say in candidate selection. Rahul is said to have given his assent to the CM's suggestion as it was necessary for his party to retain power in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah is also said to have discussed the strategy to be adopted to win the 2018 elections. More talks are likely to be held between the CM and the High Command on this issue in the coming months.

The sources said Delhi leaders had reposed a great deal of confidence in Siddaramaiah following the victory in the Nanjangud and Gundlupet by elections despite a full-blown campaign by the BJP highlighting the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This win came as a face-saver at a time when the Congress image had taken a severe beating with losses in almost all states in a row of elections since 2014.

Alarmed over this, the high command had decided to allow local leaders to manage the elections particularly with regard to selection of candidates. The Congress had paid a heavy price in the previous polls for centralised selection of candidates without allowing local units to have a say.

Siddaramaiah has been claiming that his government had fulfilled 130-140 promises of the total 165 made in its 2013 election manifesto. The government has already announced a slew of welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and minorities who form the major chunk of voters in Karnataka. Many more sops cannot be ruled out in the coming days, said sources.